The Truth About Guns: From Bloomberg’s Push for Background Checks on Private Transfers, to the Impact of Gun Ownership on Crime Rates - Presented by John R. Lott, Jr.

Michael Bloomberg’s big push has been on background checks on the private transfers of guns. Who do these laws primarily stop from buying guns? What are their costs? How well does the current background system really work? Why do gun control advocates push for these laws? The talk will also focus on the latest research on gun ownership and crime rates, and how people’s perceptions of gun ownership is increasing opposition to more gun control.

About John R. Lott, Jr.

CPRC was founded by Dr. John R. Lott, Jr., an economist and a world recognized expert on guns and crime. Lott has held research or teaching positions at various academic institutions including the University of Chicago, Yale University, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and Rice University, and was the chief economist at the United States Sentencing Commission during 1988-1989. He is currently a Fox News columnist. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA.

Nobel laureate Milton Friedman noted: “John Lott has few equals as a perceptive analyst of controversial public policy issues.” He has been one of the most productive and cited economists in the world (during 1969 to 2000 he ranked 26th worldwide in terms of quality adjusted total academic journal output, 4th in terms of total research output, and 86th in terms of citations). Lott is a prolific author for both academic and popular publications. He has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals and written eight books, including More Guns, Less Crime, The Bias Against Guns, and Freedomnomics. His most recent book is Dumbing Down the Courts: How politics keeps the smartest judges off the bench.